2015 was a great year for music in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area and 2016 will be even better. There are still big systemic challenges we need to tackle in order to cultivate a better ecosystem for artists of all kinds, but that hasn’t stopped great people from doing epic things. Here are a few of them.

As always, this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the awesome music coming out of the DMV — just a sampling to start you on a Souncloud K-hole of madness and intrigue. Check out folks who made this list in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Hit me up on Twitter with other folks we should be watching. – BrightestYoungThings.com

Madame Gandhi is the former drummer for M.I.A., activist, and all around badass. Unsurprisingly, her heavily rhythmic and percussion centric production is pretty fucking awesome. I’m betting we get to see even more from Madame Gandhi in 2016.